Yu Yanshu followed Chi Muyao into the Yu Chong School’s main hall, where the Sect Master and Hao Xia were waiting.

On the way there, Yu Yanshu looked around before turning his gaze to the youth leading the way out front. He couldn’t help but sigh in admiration. Chi Muyao was really something.

Yu Yanzhu grew up in the Nuan Yan Pavilion, but he entered the Sect at a later time than his other shixiongs and at a younger age as well. Thus, when it was his turn, the only assignment left for care-taking duties was at the Yu Chong School.

He needed to come to the Yu Chong School once in a while to teach and also ask if there was anything they needed help with.

When he came here in the past, the Yu Chong School was a real mess. You could even see the excrement of spirit beasts in the courtyard. The resulting fumes in summer would make anyone think twice about approaching.

But some time ago, the Yu Chong School accepted a new little disciple. He categorised all the spirit pets by species, built a menagerie, and even set up a considerable number of formations around the mountain to improve air circulation and lessen the smell.

Yu Yanshu could tell how fresh the air was compared to the last time he was here. There was even a small flower bed in the courtyard planted with demure flowers.

He heard that all of this was arranged by Chi Muyao alone.

Pu He was famous for its pleasant climate and the lotus flowers that surrounded it.

Actually, instead of a mountain, Pu He was more of an island, for you needed to ride a boat to get there.

The lake surrounding Pu He was calm and clear, its surface covered by lotus flowers and their wide leaves, except for one narrow waterway allowing boats to pass. The fish lurking beneath the surface were especially unruly. At times, they would even leap out of the water, splashing up beads of crystal-clear water.

This was a place suitable for raising pets, but not cultivation. After all, Pu He wasn’t particularly abundant in spiritual energy.

Chi Muyao stepped out after escorting Yu Yanshu to the Sect Master. He soon came back with a plate of fruits and hot tea. There were even a few pastries on the plate.

Yu Yanshu glanced down at them before refusing. “There’s no need. I have long since been practising inedia. I stopped eating many years ago.”

Yi Qianxi, who had been properly seated to one side, suddenly skirted over to Chi Muyao’s side and whispered, “Could it be he doesn’t know how to take a dump?"

Chi Muyao was embarrassed by the question. He hurriedly whispered back, "Don't speak nonsense."

Cultivators all have extremely good hearing, so naturally Yu Yanshu overheard as well. His entire face flushed in an instant. He lowered his eyes as he replied, “I still take pills on a regular basis. I expel their residue through circulating energy throughout my body.”

"So...you really don’t know how to?" Yi Qianxi’s gaze towards Yu Yanshu became more sympathetic.

The Sect Master couldn’t listen to one more second of this. He marched over and dragged Yi Qianxi outside. Soon, the sounds of fierce scolding could be heard.

Hao Xia followed him out. "I'll go and try to talk him down."

That left Chi Muyao and Yu Yanshu alone in the main hall.

Still a little embarrassed, Yu Yanshu hesitated for a moment before picking up a slice of watermelon and taking a bite. It really was quite sweet.

Chi Muyao reminded him in a whisper, "The black seeds should be spat out."

Yu Yanshu was a bit flustered. He froze with the watermelon still in hand, unsure of where he should spit the seeds out without causing offence.

Chi Muyao noticed his dilemma and brought him a tray. "Spit them out here."

Afterwards, worried that Yu Yanshu would be embarrassed eating alone, Chi Muyao sat down across from him and they ate watermelon together. The two of them didn’t chat, they just focused on quietly eating and spitting out the seeds.

The sounds of scolding faded away a while later, but neither father and daughter nor Hao Xia came back in.

Chi Muyao frowned slightly. This was basically telling him to tend to Yu Yanshu alone. What an unreliable Sect Master.

Nonetheless, he could only put down his melon rind and clean his hands with the Simple Washing Technique before saying to Yu Yanshu, "Why don’t I take you to the guest room."

"Oh, okay." Yu Yanshu also didn't expect the meeting with the Sect Master to be over so quickly, so he put down the melon rind as well. After cleaning his hands, he followed Chi Muyao to the guest room.

The place where Yu Yanshu would be temporarily staying had been cleaned out already. There was even an incense burner here.

The incense burner was a very muted, dark shade of brown. The decorations on the lid were sculpted using metal wire, and the curling smoke rising from its hole emitted a fresh and light fragrance.

This was new. Perhaps Chi Muyao prepared it fearing that guests wouldn’t be accustomed to the smells of the Yu Chong School.

“Cultivator friend Chi, where should I pass on my studies?" Yu Yanshu asked politely.

"Oh, you can just address me as Shidi. As for a suitable place, do you think that gazebo over there is okay?” Saying that, Chi Muyao pointed at a nearby small gazebo.

"Yes."

After that, Yu Yanshu sat alone in the pavilion for a few days, waiting for the disciples of the Yu Chong School to come and ask him questions.

The so-called studies were more aptly described as cultivation experiences. He was here to impart insight about how he successfully formed his golden core.

Yu Yanshu once went to another sect for this task. There, he was surrounded by crowds of people and had to answer questions until his throat was sore. But most frightening of all was how enthusiastic some of the female disciples had been. Their behaviour made him somewhat uncomfortable.

His experience at the Imperial Spirit Beast School was completely different, because no one came to ask him questions at all.

Yu Yanshu saw Chi Muyao carrying a bucket and a fishing rod to the edge of the lake, where he sat down and started fishing. There was also a small table next to him holding a teacup that he would sip from once in a while before continuing to space out by the lake.

Yi Qianxi even went to Chi Muyao’s side and complained, "How come your hobbies are all so old-fashioned?"

Chi Muyao hesitated for a moment. "When I was younger, my hobby was doing homework.”

"Doing homework…?"

"In other words, completing unfinished assignments from class.”

"..." Yi Qianxi said after thinking for a while, "Then you'd better continue fishing."

A while later, Yi Qianxi reappeared with sleeves pushed up, yelling at and chasing a small wild boar through the yard.

She returned a little while later. Not only did she not catch the little wild boar, she seemed to have fallen into a mud puddle. Yet instead of going to find her Shifu or father, she made a beeline for Chi Muyao, crying, “Owwww! Shidi, Shidi!”

In the end, it was Chi Muyao who took Yi Qianxi back to her room and waited outside to take away the dirtied clothes. He even brought Yi Qianxi some medicinal powder shortly after.

The Sect Master also seemed to think that Yu Yanshu was bored just sitting around, so he went over to chat with him.

He said with a benevolent expression, "Yaoyao is a steadfast kid. I’m grooming him to be the next Sect Master.”

Yu Yanshu smiled and replied, "Chi-shidi is indeed a very steadfast cultivator friend."

But...are you sure you’re grooming him instead of him taking care of your entire Sect??

"Little friend, you’re not married yet, right?” The Sect Master suddenly asked.

"No."

“My little daughter is around your age…”

"I am solely devoted to cultivation.”

"Ooohhhh." The Sect Master left it at that. He was hoping to get a rich son-in-law so he didn’t have to worry about the Sect’s spirit pet food supply anymore. What a shame that Yi Qianxi wasn’t the type that could marry rich.

Since the Sect Master ran out of things to talk about with Yu Yanshu, he went to find Chi Muyao to take his place. It was very important that they entertain this guest well, because he was an important disciple of the Nuan Yan Pavilion sheltering their Sect.

Chi Muyao was at a bit of a loss. He came over to inquire, "Do you want to fish together?"

"But I need to pass on my studies."

"There's really nothing for us at the Yu Chong School to ask. Our Sect Master’s just at the Golden Core stage, after all. None of us are exactly serious cultivators. Why don’t you just consider this trip a chance to rest for a few days?”

Yu Yanshu was raised strictly by his Sect, so he did things in a straightforward manner and always remained polite. He had never tried to skirt his duties.

Indeed, there was no way he could fish while he was supposed to be passing on his studies.

Sensing his dilemma, Chi Muyao sighed. "Then let me ask you a few questions."

"Ask away." Yu Yanshu finally perked up.

"Was it difficult for you to ascend to the Golden Core stage?"

"It was fairly challenging. At first…” Yu Yanshu took his job very seriously and talked about his core formation process in detail. Chi Muyao listened attentively to him.

At the end, he nodded. “Wow. You’re really good then.”

“En. Is there anything else you would like to know?”

"Do you...still want to eat watermelon?"

"..." Yu Yanshu’s suspicions that Chi Muyao only asked those questions for his sake were just about confirmed.

Yu Yanshu pondered for a while. "There is another matter that I need to discuss with the Sect Master in detail."

"En. You can just talk to me about it.”

This wasn’t Chi Muyao overstepping his station. After all, no one could deny that he was the one handling all the internal affairs of the Sect.

Yu Yanshu also didn't give it much thought. He got straight to the point, “In two months, the immortal cultivation world will hold a joint excursion. All those at the Foundation Building stage will be allowed to enter the formation to train and even hunt Jilingshou季玲寿 - lit. 'season jade longevity'. Based on the number of kills, they will be able to exchange for a number of resources, the least of which is still a pill of decent quality.”

Jilingshou, otherwise known as the Auspicious Beast.

Despite its name, its appearance was quite lacking and it had a fierce, savage nature. Multiple Foundation Building cultivators would need to work together to bring one down.

However, every part of the Jilingshou’s body was full of treasures. After being refined, its scales even had the ability to extend one’s lifespan, hence the character for ‘longevitySee note above.’ in its name.

Chi Muyao hesitated for a moment. "Which formation is it?"

"The Vast Dark Phoenix Tree Formation."

"Oh, the conditions in this formation are a bit harsh. I'm afraid that Shijie and I..." Chi Muyao wanted to refuse. He knew about the harsh conditions in this array, and he was worried about putting himself through unnecessary hardship if he went.

"Don't worry, I will be leading a team into the formation this time to protect the Foundation Building stage cultivators, so I'll be able to look after you and Yi-shimei a little inside. Also, Yi-shimei’s potential isn’t bad. She has a chance of forming a golden core. Perhaps she will have a fortuitous encounter there.”

He wasn’t wrong. Yi Qianxi had a dual spiritual root and her cultivation insight was fair. With proper care, she might yet be a good seedling.

But letting Yi Qianxi go alone made Chi Muyao uneasy. He hesitated for a moment. "Perhaps you’re right. I’ll go with Shijie then.”

“En. I’ll hand in your applications.”

"Thank you, Shige."

In the afternoon, Chi Muyao was still fishing, and Yi Qianxi was still running all over the mountain.

The Sect Master and Hao Xia were helping a spirit pet deliver her litter, which was always the busiest time of the year.

Yu Yanshu really had nothing to do, so he sat alone in the gazebo and ate watermelon. He ended up finishing an entire one by himself in one afternoon.

At the end of the day, Chi Muyao and Yi Qianxi wanted to go see if the cubs were born.

They were stopped by Yu Yanshu just as they walked out the door. "Why don't I teach you two swordplay?"

Yi Qianxi hurriedly pushed Chi Muyao forward. "Shidi, you really need to work on your techniques. You’ve been lazing around all day.”

With that, she ran away as quickly as she could to go see the cubs.

Chi Muyao was feeling a bit helpless. He could only smile at Yu Yanshu. “Sure!”

"En. Where’s your sword?"

"I don’t have one..."

"You don’t have a personal sword? Then how do you attack?"

Chi Muyao used a finger to point at the yellow oriole sleeping on top of his head. “This is my soul-bound spirit beast. Its name is Qiuqiu啾啾 - it's the onomatopoeia for birds chirping in Chinese. In English essentially it would be Cheepcheep..”

"I didn't see it during the day."

"En. It's a night owl that can’t stay awake during the day.”

Seems like even soul-bound spirit beasts weren’t very reliable.

Having slept its fill, Qiuqiu abruptly stood up from the top of Chi Muyao's head and spread its wings as if to show off its regality. Its chubby belly jiggled a bit. There was no regality in sight, but it did look pretty cute.

Yu Yanshu wanted to offer some praise, but all he could get out in the end was, "What a fat birdSilverRain: Yooo Yu Yanshu here being savage XD."

Qiuqiu was immediately unhappy. It turned around and started to ignore Yu Yanshu.

Yu Yanshu couldn’t decipher Qiuqiu’s moods. He simply asked, “Is it a yellow oriole bird?”

“En, that’s right. It was injured before so it doesn't look quite the same as an ordinary oriole."

"En. Its feathers are somewhat on the orange side.” Yu Yanshu was still focused on swordplay. “So how do I teach you?"

"Like you normally would. I’ll just watch.”

"Really?"

"Really."

Yu Yanshu went to stand in the middle of the open space nearby. Drawing his sword, he smoothly demonstrated a series of techniques before becoming still.

His posture was pencil straight. His light turquoise and white sect uniform combined with his gentle and jade-like appearance made him appear to be the epitome of a modest gentleman.

His movements were as graceful as a swimming dragon, his swordplay more akin to a performance. His jade-like appearance and refined demeanour put him a rank above the rest in terms of attractiveness.

While he demonstrated the techniques, he would also say the mantras so that Chi Muyao could understand the specifics.

Yu Yanshu asked Chi Muyao after re-sheathing his sword, "Can you remember it all?"

Chi Muyao didn't have a sword, so he put his index and middle fingers together and went through the motions using his hand as he recited the mantra word for word.

Yu Yanshu nodded in satisfaction, "Not bad.”

Meanwhile...

Qing Ze Sect's Patriarch Xi Lin swept everything off the table as he scolded, “Bastard, are you still refusing to enter closed-door cultivation?”

Ever since he escaped the cave, Xi Huai had been busy scouring the cultivation world for A-Jiu. He’s refused again and again to enter seclusion and break through to the Golden Core stage. Thus, his cultivation has remained stagnant at the peak stage of Foundation Building for two years now.

His lack of desire to continue cultivation and slacking off all day angered Xi Lin to the point that he locked his son up.

Xi Huai still refused to enter seclusion after half a year of confinement. Instead, he started researching how to refine spiritual artefacts in his cave residence. According to him, he was close to succeeding.

Originally, Xi Lin wasn’t so angry at this turn of events. After all, refining spiritual artefacts was better than doing nothing.

Yet he discovered during his visit today that the artefact Xi Huai was refining was a red ribbon. When asked about its use, Xi Huai replied, “I’m going to use it to tie up A-Jiu and bring him back to the Qing Ze Sect when I find him so he can never run away again! I'll make him cry so hard he can't breathe."

Xi Lin was so enraged that he almost burned this son to death.

"You, you’re supposed to be the son of a Demonic Sect Master, but look at what you’ve done these past two years, ah?!” Xi Lin admonished.

Xi Huai ignored him with a cold grunt.

Xi Lin’s palm slammed down on the table. “Going around saving people and doing good deeds?? What were you thinking?! How am I supposed to face people after this?!”

Song Weiyue hurriedly kneeled down to explain, "Sect Master, the Young Sect Master wasn’t deliberately trying to save anyone, he was just worried that the person he was looking for was in that group of people! That’s why he saved them all. Please don’t blame him!”

Xi Lin ignored Song Weiyue and continued to scold Xi Huai, "You should know clearly what you can and cannot do.”

Song Weiyue again answered for Xi Huai. "From now on, we’ll definitely burn, kill and pillage when we go out. We won’t let down everyone’s expectations of us.”

Xi Huai rolled his eyes at that.

In the past, the Qing Ze Sect had a terrible reputation and Xi Lin was also considered infamous.

But after Xi Huai saved a few people when he went out a few times, the reputation of the Qing Ze Sect somehow gradually got better.

A few days ago, Xi Lin's old friend came and said reprovingly, "Old Dragon Xi, is your Qing Ze Sect planning to join the renowned righteous sects, ah? What, you’re not satisfied with the demonic faction anymore? You haven’t learned the teachings of the righteous side, but you sure act like you did.”

After being reproved, Xi Lin was so embarrassed that he simply confined Xi Huai.

Xi Huai put the red ribbon into his Myriad Treasure Bell and asked Song Weiyue, "Is there anywhere interesting to go these days?"

Song Weiyue glanced at Xi Lin and replied cautiously, "The Vast Dark Phoenix Tree Array. Everyone going there is a Foundation Building cultivator."

"Let’s go snatch up their fortuitous encounters.” Saying that, Xi Huai grabbed Song Weiyue's collar and dragged him out of the cave.

That left Zong Sichen to hurriedly say to Xi Lin, "I'll watch the Young Sect Master and make sure he doesn't save anyone this time."

Then he leapt out and ran away with the other two.

Xi Lin watched Xi Huai’s group leave. He didn’t stop them in the end.

Fine. Xi Huai’s suffered enough due to the Hui Dragon Flames. I’ll let him do as he wishes about everything else.